Only when Ino was completely gone from my range of vision, I jumped towards the nearest roof, creating the starting point for my race towards my apartment.
A quick glance at the streets revealed the minor commotion I caused since many eyes from the crowd were directed at me with curiosity.
I wasted more precious time and left toward my apartment as fast as I could go without damaging the building's roofs to avoid more unnecessary attention.
When I was close to the building, I was glad that they left the window open, giving me a quick entrance.
Passing through the window, I stood inside my apartment where I removed every piece of cloth that was covering my face and throwing it away, not caring where it could land.
My mind was more occupied trying to process my last encounter by racking my brains for answers.
"You look as if you saw your brother." Tayuya was the first to speak.
"Don't start." Karin was quick to stand between us but it didn't matter I would not fall for her provocations.
"Tayuya, what happened to Ino?" I immediately asked as I approached the table.
Her head tilted to the right for a second before leaning to the left. "What do you mean?"
"I met Ino Yamanaka moments ago and is not how I remember her at all, is a completely new person!" I exclaimed.
She brought a finger under her chin as her eyes looked at the roof for an answer. "I don't know , she always had been like this as far as I remember though...oh, I finally got it."
"Got what?"
She stood up from her seat and gave a couple of steps before stopping with her eyes' attention shifting towards the floor as she held her chin with her right hand. "This happened when I was still in prison, so I only know very little, but I think I can somewhat tell you a small explanation..."
"Get to the point!" I slammed my fist on the table as I was in no mood for more stupid games.
She turned around, no longer holding any resemblance to her cheeky attitude. "I think it was years ago. The Yamanaka girl tried a clan jutsu on the Hyuga girl for some stupid reason and it worked... but not as intended."
"Not working as intended?"
With my curiosity piqued I was left wondering for a moment what she meant by that and what jutsu would she even be talking about, I did not understand how many jutsus the Yamanaka besides their Mind Transfer technique and for what uses could they have.
Yet she only shrugged. "I don't know the details but those two switched...minds, I think."
That very simple answer with no details only created even more questions.
"So you're telling me that Hinata is now Ino and Ino is Hinata?" Recalling the brief meeting, Ino was dressed similar to the Hinata I knew and her shy and reserved attitude matched too, but something that simple could have been solved. At least I believe it could be.
"No, you idiot, they are still themselves." Tayuya quickly countered.
"But you said they switched minds." Karin objected.
Tayuya turned and tried to answer, but her mouth hung open for a moment before closing and opening twice, yet no word came out.
Calmly and silent, she returned to her seat before letting out a long sigh. "They switched minds but not that kind of mind, more like the mind that you have for your attitude...holy shit I don't even understand what the fuck I'm saying."
Surprisingly, I understood what exactly she was trying to say. "Enough, are they the only ones who suffered a radical change?"
If they weren't the same, then things would have to take a drastic turn, Tayuya was already a surprise but if my old classmates were radically different, then it would change so many things and my ideas on how to integrate or deal with them would have to be scrapped.
However, Tayuya tilted her head. "Dunno, I only stayed at Konoha like a year before traveling around the elemental nations and whenever I returned I stayed at my place. Occasionally, the shithead dragged me to one of his gatherings."
"Why am I not surprised that you know shit?"
"Fuck you." She spat back.
I simply looked at her in the eye. "Get out of here."
She glared at me for a moment while she stood from her seat and stretched her arms. "I wanted to leave, anyway."
Tayuya turned and went toward the window where I arrived and jumped off, finally leaving my apartment in peace.
There was a momentary silence after her departure, which Karin took advantage of and took a seat closer to me.
"You seemed distressed." She said.
"Only surprised, I never expected to learn that my old classmates would go through such radical changes. It makes me unnecessarily wonder if there are more like them. " A heavy sigh left me, I didn't want to stress over it and plunge myself into a sea of infinite possibilities. "But that's besides the point, we should rest now because the jinchuuriki will depart soon. Did you recognize her chakra signature?"
She mentioned the possibility.
Karin adjusted her glasses as she beamed, a smile filled with pride. "Don't underestimate me. It was easy to get closer to her since she seemed friendly with everyone and constantly went to public places to eat and somehow start a small scale party."
That was good news.
"Can you sense her right now?" I asked further.
She closed her eyes for a moment. "She is in a completely different district than us, the place where most foreign shinobis stay."
I held my chin deep in thought, trying to connect a couple of dots. "Keep a close eye on her. You will give us the signal when to move out."
Karin nodded.
With my order given, I stood up and left the table with a new destination in mind, but I didn't need to go far to find Suigetsu laying on the floor as he read a magazine.
His eyes shifted attention toward me as he threw away the magazine and slowly got up from the floor. "Geez, and I was getting comfy here."
"I'm trusting you you hadn't been slacking off." My suspicion came because I had only been seeing him at the stadium watching the matches or going out to eat and drink.
I had barely seen Suigetsu in the training room.
"You think very little of me, I had been fighting in an underground arena to keep my blade sharp." He grinned with crossed arms as if his actions were to be proud of.
My glare hardened at hearing that bit of information. "Why did you never inform me? Are you aware that a guy seen with a legendary sword of the Mist will be a source of attention?" My hand shot forward and took a hold of his collar, bringing him closer to my face. "Even more because we killed and sold an official swordsman of the Mist?"
Suigetsu's cheeky attitude was gone. His hand grabbed my hand and tried to move mine away from his collar. "Hey, I'm not that stupid. I used their weapons, never mine." His smile returned to his face, but it didn't hold any of his cheeky attitude anymore but more the growing worry about what I could do.
My frown deepened, I felt the need to tighten my grip around his neck and slam his body on the floor and turn him into a puddle. "This is a team to help me with my goals foremost, we aren't your babysitters to clean up your mess."
Yet I only issued a warning with my eyes flaring up for a second.
Suigetsu looked me to the eye for a moment before he let out a sigh of defeat before his body melted, becoming a puddle of water to get away from my grasp. "Yeah yeah do you do and I will do what I will do."
He quickly regained his full form and adjusted his collar and left towards his room.
I patiently watched him leave my sight before I too headed towards my room to rest while Karin stayed behind keeping watch for any movement.
When I closed the door behind me I dropped on my bed for a while, yet my eyes were still fully open and my mind was racing with thoughts.
A peaceful sleep was considered difficult to achieve with so many things going over head.
I was too active to consider sleeping and when I went under the cover of my bed, I only stared blankly at the roof for a long while, leaving with no other option but to meditate to find some inner peace and cleansing of mind.
The ever closing date for the fight was closer than ever and I needed every bit of energy yet for the same reason plaguing my mind I couldn't find any proper sleep and it didn't help that I didn't change my clothes since I couldn't afford to waste time if the Taki team moved in the middle of the night.
The best I could do was to get up and sit with crossed legs and find a much better and comfortable position for my meditation, and if I had any luck, I would soon fall asleep.
In that position, the time flowed as I disconnected from reality.
I didn't know if that time was short-lived or hours passed, but I was sure that a hand touched my shoulder.
Instinctively, I grabbed the offending hand that broke my concentration before opening my eyes, revealing a very surprised redhead.
Even in the darkness, my sight could notice her concern. "Sasuke-kun?"
I quickly released her hand.
With my meditation broken my attention shifted towards Karin who quickly pulled away. "What's the problem?"
"They have already left." She said.
I could feel my heart pounding as it was being pumped with adrenaline at hearing those words. "In the middle of the night?"
People always moved in the middle of the night to hide their departure from others, it was clear that they knew something.
"Strange isn't it?" She quickly handed me my straw hat, goggles and clothes that had been scattered hours ago.
I stood up and grabbed my things to hide my identity. "We don't have time to wonder but act, let's go."
Together we headed towards the kitchen as I hastily covered myself, Karin made a quick stop and knocked Suigetsu's door before resuming her way.
Suigetsu came out from his room, scratching his head. "Man, I was having such a delightful dream."
But after stretching his arms, he quickly caught up with us in the kitchen.
There was no need to inform Juugo, who was already there waiting for us, prepared to leave at any moment's notice.
I only nodded for confirmation.
With our group ready we walked to the nearest windows and jumped off towards the roof of another house, and from that starting point we started our pursuit of the Jinchuuriki.
However, our sudden movement didn't go unnoticed, Karin would let me know. She pointed the several directions and when I glanced at each pointed direction I barely noticed a shadow moving across the roofs. If I activated my sharingan, I would have gotten a better insight, but it wasn't necessary, I had an objective in mind and Gaara wouldn't be so stupid to interfere with it.
We only increased our speed and left the village behind, those who were following us stopped when we reached the village limits and watched us disappear in the distance.
A desert is called the sea of sand for the vast amount of sand and how infinite it looks, besides possessing the same risks if one were to get lost inside it.
Since it was night, the only disadvantage of the dessert was the sand blinding us and sand storms but none of those problems occurred and the secret pursuit proceeded smoothly.
"How close are we?" I asked our sensor.
"We will reach their position in a couple of minutes if we keep up this pace." She quickly answered.
"Have you felt any other signature?"
"Only the Taki team for now...they've stopped." Karin's words brought our group to a sudden halt.
"Get ready." I gave the order waiting for any abnormality to occur, which would signal us the moment to rush towards their position.
"At this distance they won't detect us." Karin added.
I turned to our big guy. "Juugo?"
Despite being midnight, we could still see the environment and discern some features.
He extended his hand and the new bird that had been accompanying him landed on his finger and excitedly chirped. "They had set up a camp without a fireplace."
"At least they weren't ambushed, we can only wait." I sighed in relief as my stance relaxed but I didn't dare to lower my guard, my senses were still in high alert just like Karin who kept trying to find any chakra signature in the vicinity.
Missing sleep was terrible, and I had been feeling the effects for hours, but it was a good thing since my body was demanding rest and my mind would have to give in and don't overwhelm me with more unnecessary thoughts. And since the jinchuuriki team set up a camp, then they would stay for the night, giving me plenty of time to catch up and recover my energy.
I hated sleeping on the sand even if I used sleeping gear, but I could only suck it up and move on, and hope no sand reached my face.
I watched the starry sky for the duration of the time my body could endure before without even noticing everything went dark.
Even with the pressing matters at hand, I could get decent sleep. Even if it was just a couple of hours, it was still enough to feel refreshed. The sun was soon to appear over the horizon to signal the start of a new day.
But we resumed the pursuit, keeping our distance to avoid detection.
"How long until we reach the border?" I asked.
"At this pace it will take hours."
"Keep an eye open for anything out of place." I turned my attention to what was ahead of me, moving forward without stopping. I had the hopes to reach the border before the sun reached its heat peak.
The dry land slowly but progressively became more green and trees were more commonly sighted until we no longer saw sand or infinite dunes but endless trees, the desert bird left Juugo's side before we crossed to a new biome.
The tall trees created shadows which protected us from the sun just like I wanted.
"Still nothing?" I asked our sensor.
Karin shook her head.
"Then they must wait somewhere around." It was the only explanation for the taki team to not meet their cruel fate yet, since I was leading I raised my hand to stop my team.
It was counterproductive to stop in the middle of a pursuit but we could still track them if they were to get out of Karin's range; I needed time to think of possibilities of why the Akatsuki didn't ambush them yet.
"You are right, we were waiting for you."
My heart skipped a beat when the newcomers made their presence known.
Every single one of us shared the same thought and jumped away with every bit of strength of our legs.
When I landed my attention immediately shifted and checked my surroundings but stopped at what was in front of us and my eyes didn't play any jokes on me as I noticed the dreadful black and red coat.
Better said two of them wearing that color palette who didn't waste a second to take off their straw hats and reveal their identity to us.
As expected Hidan and Kakuzu revealed themselves as the pair tasked with the capture of the seven tails.
"How did you know?" I addressed our uninvited guests.
Hidan let out a curt laugh. "Using falcons to deliver messages? How stupid the Kazekage must be to rely in such method of communication."
I frowned, Tayuya said she was the one handing out the messages Suna and Konoha were sending out to each other, except the very first one.
It was careless of him to send a single message with so much information.
"I must admit you are a very ambitious or idiotic bounty hunter to even think to take on both of us." Kakuzu mocked.
"Your aim is the jinchuuriki, so why are you here?" I ignored his mockery and asked. Dealing with us would exponentially reveal their location and give time to the jinchuuriki to escape.
"You are correct, but we would rather get rid of any annoyance before proceeding with our primary objective." Kakuzu answered my question logically. If they were focused on capturing the seven tails they would lower their guard, which was exactly my plan for attack.
Now that was gone, forcing me to adapt one as my eyes maintained contact with the enemy.
Hidan stepped forward and pointed his scythe to us.
"And your sacrifice would be enough to satisfy Jashin-sama." His scythe was brought closer enough for him to drag his tongue around the sharp edges of his three scythed weapons as he crazily eyed us like lambs ready to gut.
That probably would have scared civilians or low-level genins but for us who had seen so many fucked up things that his thing was more like child's play to us.
But much to everyone's surprise, our sensor stepped forward.
"How could you avoid detection?! Only spymasters like the toad sage can perfectly hide!" Karin exclaimed her disbelief as she pointed at the Akatsuki pair.
Hidan only let out a guttural laugh before looking at us with a sadistic glee shined on his eyes. "Girl, you must have brain damage if you think we wouldn't learn something about how to hide ourselves very well."
My hand shot forward and dragged Karin behind before things were to get ...ugly. "Before we start, where is the coward of Deidara."
My eyes landed on Kakuzu, who crossed his arms as he let out a long raspy chuckle. "Why would I tell you that?"
My eyebrows scrunched into a frown for a moment before my hand went under my coat and pulled out a package as wide as my hand, a package filled with money I prepared beforehand for my expenses and other things.
Never expected that it would be used for something so crazy.
"Because you have your priorities." I threw the fat stack of money towards his direction.
I could see his eyes widen in surprise before his right hand literally shot forward and grabbed the package midair, partially revealing the grotesque nature of his body. The black tendrils retracted just as fast, pulling the hand back to his arm.
Kakuzu's full attention went toward the stack and proceeded to count as fast as he could possibly go.
My group only watched in silence, holding their breath.
Once he finished counting he stored the money under his coat.
His eyes focused on mine. "You are interesting."
Hidan turned to his partner, his sadistic glee gone, replaced by confusion."Oi oi, you aren't serious about accepting his request."
"It won't have any repercussions since they will be dead anyway." He dismissed his partner's protests and his attention shifted toward me again. "That coward is still playing around Kirigakure, don't know why, and I don't care as long as he doesn't stick his stupid face in my business."
I smiled as if an enormous burden was removed from my shoulders.
"Good to know."
I unsheathed only one of the Kiba blades and pointed it to Kakuzu, who only laughed in response while Hidan grabbed his cloak and threw it away before reaching for his necklace to give it a quick kiss to the symbol of his pagan god.
Let the battle be heard and pump my blood to new heights.
Because it was finally time to prove my true worth, not as Sasuke.
But as myself.